Climate Control Niggle

[johalareewi]

Now that things are warming up, i have a little niggle about the climate control. What it really needs is an upper and lower cabin temperature setting rather than the single temperature it has. I find that the climate control tries too hard to keep the temperature exactly right and often blasts out jets of cold air when they aren't necessary, or pumps out heat when not necessary either. Fortunately, there are temp +/- buttons on the touch pads so I can compensate...

[phil4]

I personally find it's notion of "Climate Control" a bit far fetched.

Without the A/C on (Which I find I have to do manually), it can't cool the car very well, and as such the temp setting is almost academic.

With A/C on the air comes out very cold, and it varies the fan speed a little depending how far it is from. However regardless it's still blowing very cold air at me.

It has never turned A/C on by itself when too hot, or turned it off when about right.

As such I find it quite hard to get the right temp. Something I'm not used to from previous cars.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I find the a/c to be very harsh - not bad I suppose if you live in LA, but a bit over the top in Blighty. I do find that putting the car in 'eco' mode seems to reduce the harshness a little.

[Dave R.]

Now that things are warming up, i have a little niggle about the climate control. What it really needs is an upper and lower cabin temperature setting rather than the single temperature it has. I find that the climate control tries too hard to keep the temperature exactly right and often blasts out jets of cold air when they aren't necessary, or pumps out heat when not necessary either. Fortunately, there are temp +/- buttons on the touch pads so I can compensate...

I agree that the "climate control" is extremely clunky. In my previous cars, (VW Passat, Volvo V40 / V50) Climate Control would get the car to the desired temperature, after which you would not be aware of any heating / cooling - the car just magically maintained the set temperature. With the Prius, the CC does its bit to get to the desired temperature, but then if, say, the sun comes out, there is a sudden very noticeable blast of cold air from the vents.... the CC is about as subtle as a breezeblock. It seems that it needs a wide variation from the set point before the system reacts, and then it uses a big step change in airflow to compensate. I'd certainly add "clunky climate control" to my list of things that Toyota "could do better".

[RNS]

How much does using the AC effect the MPG ? now its getting a bit warmer

[seljon]

I have the same problem. My Gen 1 and 2 Prius were much better at regulating background temperature. Just set AC on, set fan at minimum choose face level/feet and hey presto constant background temperatures and no cold air blasting. My new one though - either use auto and get constant blasting to face or use a/c and get pretty much the same effect. Most puzzling.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

How much does using the AC effect the MPG ? now its getting a bit warmer

I don't think it makes much noticeable difference that I can tell - so far, and I've had it blasting away the last couple of days. You'll know as well as I that a/c in town traffic uses much more fuel than using it on a run.

I find that using the heater makes much more of a difference, especially when it was really cold.

It seams the car is opposite to 'normal' cars.

[THX]

How much does using the AC effect the MPG ? now its getting a bit warmer

I don't think it makes much noticeable difference that I can tell - so far, and I've had it blasting away the last couple of days. You'll know as well as I that a/c in town traffic uses much more fuel than using it on a run.

I find that using the heater makes much more of a difference, especially when it was really cold.

It seams the car is opposite to 'normal' cars.

It hasn't got hot enough in London to try the AC (I only drive it for early mornings and evening commute) but noticed mpg is much more related to engine temp and external temp. 2 weeks back when the temp went down to 5C I notice the engine coming on all the time when Battery was near low on traffic lights and the morning warmup was also much longer. Most of my mpg goes at traffic lights or getting out of my cul-de-sac in the morning (low speed).

Winter heater mpg was around UK 52mpg; now without anything on it is 62mpg...

[flow]

The one thing ive noticed is...

When the car is really warm inside, the Aircon will switch itself to re-circulation mode (to speed up the cooling process i guess) but doesnt seem to switch back to normal mode once its cooled down.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The one thing ive noticed is...

When the car is really warm inside, the Aircon will switch itself to re-circulation mode (to speed up the cooling process i guess) but doesnt seem to switch back to normal mode once its cooled down.

It does but it takes ages. It also blows in your face when trying to cool down and then switches back to windscreen and feet. I've had better climate control before but I'm sure there's worse!

[johalareewi]

I'm new to climate control (in cars). With my previous cars it was all done manually so it is quite a novelty having a lot of the fiddling with the heater and aircon controls done for me. It's nice that the aircon runs off the Battery so you can remain cool and quiet in traffic. My GF's cousin has a new Auris with the start/stop engine and when stopped in traffic, the engine comes on if the aircon kicks in. Plays havoc with the mpg.

[Jolly English Gentleman]

Missed this post whilst I was away. What I find a pain regardless whether you want warmth or cold is that when you turn the system on it is always set at a point just below the middle of the range of blasts and the A/C always seems to be on untill I manually set it to a minimum blast and turn the A/C button off. If only it would store the required setting in its memory, in the same way that manual dials stay in the same place until you move them. I don't whether the 3rd Gen has it but it would be nice to have the option for seperate temperatures for passenger and driver, as is the case with most other cars with climate control.

Its just a niggle though, around town I can open the window which gives me ventilation whilst still gaining warmth through the windscreen by solar energy.